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LETTER 

FROM 

llOI, WILLIAM T. AYERY, 

M 

OF TENNESSEE, 



HIS CONSTITUENTS': 





Fellow- Citizens : 

I am daily in receipt of very many letters from different 
portions of my district, asking my views at length concerning 
the present perilous condition of the country. To all of these 
it is impossible to reply. The relations of people and repre- 
sentative are, or at least ought to be, of the most intimate 
and confidential character. Recognizing these relations in 
the fullest extent, and myself having no concealments from 
my constituency, in view of the events so rapidly transpiring, 
and of the difficulties and delays of obtaining the floor to speak 
upon these subjects, I have deemed it not inappropriate to 
adopt this mode of addressing you. 

It is not my purpose to discuss at length any question, but 
merely to give the convictions to which my mind has come 
after the most solemn reflection. 

YYhen I reached your Federal Capital, now nearly a month 
ago, I was not without hope that something might be done to 
compose the difficulties which imperiled the Republic. Day 
by day, however, that hope has faded until it is now gone. 
Congress has done nothing. Congress caji do nothing, to ef- 
fect this settlement. Congress all along, with the delusive 
hope of restoring peace and preserving equality between the 
two discordant sections of the Confederacy, has compromised 
and conciliated until these compromises and conciliations have 
proved fatal to the South by lulling her into a dream of false 
security. They have only served to smother with ashes the 
crater of the volcano. 

The fact is that the fatal disease lies with the great body of 
the ^;i?c>^/'<2 of the Republican party at the North, innoculated 
into them by every way possible — by pulpit, by press, by 



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prayers, by persuasions and teachings of all sort — civil, moral, 
and religious. It is part of their religious fanaticism to hate 
slavery, and to feel that they are doing God's service to aid 
in all ways, legitimate and illegitimate, fair and foul, to abol- 
ish it. lipon this idea their public men, high and low, have 
been elected. Upon the doctrine that there is a grand war 
between the slave States and the free States, which war is not 
to cease until the one or the other conquer — until they shall 
, be all free or all slave — upon the doctrine of the equality of 
the white and black races, their President by their voice alone 
has been lifted to rule over us. 

With a full knowledge of all these tacts, I had a hope, but 
it was only a hope, tliat the chief rulers of this party, rather 
than see tlie disruption of this great Government by their 
own impious acts, would show some signs at least of a dispo- 
sition to right our wrongs by simply recognizing our rights 
under the Constitution. Instead, however, of any such mani- 
festation, the most conservative propositions have been re- 
jected — propositions, too, which have emanated from the 
southern, when justice and honor might have demanded that 
they should come from the northern section. 

At the earliest possible moment after the meeting of Con- 
gress, a resolution was introduced and passed through botli 
houses of Congress raising a committee to take into conside- 
ration these most serious and solemn subjects. These propo- 
sitions in both instances came from southern men — Mr. Bote- 
ler, of Yirginia, in the House, and Mr. Powell, of Kentuckj^, 
in the Senate ; thus manifesting a most patriotic, loyal, con- 
servative, and, I might add, almost an imploring disposition 
upon the part of the South and southern members to do all 
that human ingenuity could devise to avert the coming ca- 
lamities of the country. Tliese committees, consisting of one 
from each State in the House, and of thirteen in the Senate, 
were duly organized, and proceeded immediately to the con- 
sideration of their grave duties. Every proposition, even of 
the most conciliatory character, brought forward by conserva- 
tive and Union-loving men and presented to the House com- 
mittee has been voted down. All this time, amidst all this 
dark prospect of revolution and the wreck of the proudest 
Government upon earth, of the brightest hopes of civil and 
religious liberty throughout the world, no single effort has 
been made upon the part of this abolition power to stop this 
direful strife, or abate one jot or tittle of their transgressions. 

The Senate committee was com])osed of the representative 
men of all parties throughout the llepublic. Mr. Crittenden, 
the oldest, most venerable and eloquent of Senators — Critten- 
den, whose name has his life-long been to his people a synonym 
of patriotism and devotion to the Union — submitted his ulti- 



matiiin. Coming as it does from sncli a source, and being re- 
garded as the most conservative and least exacting of all of the 
many propositions that have been submitted. I herewith give 
it, in order that the most deeply devoted of you, my country- 
men, to the Union may see where we stand : 

''Resolved hj the Senate (incl Ilotise, That the following arti- 
cles proposed be submitted as amendments to the Constitution, 
which shall be valid as part of the Constitution when ratified 
by the conventions of the States : 

First. In all Territories now or hereafter acquired north of 
36° 30', slavery or involuntary servitude, except as punish- 
ment for crime, be prohibited ; while south of that latitude 
slavery is hereby recognized as existing, and not to be inter- 
fered with by Congress, but to be protected as property in all 
of the departments of the territorial governments during its 
continuance. In all Territories north or south of that line, 
with such boundaries as Congress may prescribe, when they- 
contain population necessary for a member of Congress, and 
with a republican form of government, shall be admitted into 
the Union on an equality of any original State, w'ith or with- 
out slavery, as the constitution of the State may prescribe. 

Second. Congress shall have no power to abolish slavery in 
the places under its jurisdiction, nor in States permitting 
slavery. 

Third. Congress shall have no power to abolish slavery in 
the District of 'Columbia while its exists in T'irginia and Mary- 
land, or in either. JS^or shall Congress at any time prohibit 
the otficers of the Government, or members of Congress whose 
duties require them to live in the District of Columbia, from 
bringing slaves thither, or holding them as such. 

Fourth. Congress shall have no power to hinder transporta- 
tion of slaves from one State to another, whether by land, 
navigable rivers, or sea. 

Fifth. Congress shall have power, by law, to pay any owner 
who shall apply therefor, full value for tlie fugitive slave in 
all cases when the marshal shall be prevented from discharg- 
ing his duty b}^ force, or rescue made after arrest. In all such 
cases the United States shall have power to sue the county in 
■which such violence is used or rescue made, and the county 
shall have the right to sue individuals who have coinmitted 
such wrong, in the same manner as the owner could sue. 

Sixth. Ko future amendments shall affect the pi-ecediug 
articles, and Congress shall never have power to interfere with 
slavery in States where it is now permitted. The last resolu- 
tion declares that southern States have a right to the faithful 
execution of the law concerning the recovery of slaves, and 



such laws oiiglit not to be repealed or modified so as to impair 
their efBcacy. All laws which conflict with the fno;itive slave 
law are null and void. Yet Coug-ress does not deem it im- 
proper earnestly to ask the repeal of such laws. That tlie 
fugitive slave law ought to be so altered as to malce the fee 
of the commissioner equal, whether it is decided in favor or 
against the claimant ; and a clause authorizing a person hold- 
ing warrant for the summons '■^ posse comitatus ''' be modified, 
so as to restrict it to cases where violence or rescue is attempted. 
The laws for the suppression of the African slave trade are 
to be more effectually enforced. 

This last appeal of the venerable Crittenden was indignantly 
spurned and trampled under foot by this hostile power. Will 
you, proud freemen of Tennessee, ask for less ? The great con- 
stitutional fact recognizing property in slaves this party have 
solemnly said cannot be sanctioned. Their representative men, 
in and out of Congress, everywhere proclaim that sooner than 
make this admission they would see the Government shattered 
into a thousand fragments, and the dread torch of civil war 
lighted up throughout the length and breadth of this once 
happy land. 

This line of policy on the part of the representative men 
of this party in Congress is boklly proclaimed, too, by the 
champion presses of the party. They all come to us thunder- 
ing defiance, destruction, and desolation. So, then, as this 
abolition party are the aggressors, as they have perpetrated the 
wrong, as they alone have trampled under foot the Constitu- 
tion and defied the laws, the remedy then rests with them, 
and they alone can apply it. They do not intend to do it. 

In considering the political condition in which we are placed, 
I do not deem it the part of wisdom or prudence to stop to 
quarrel concerning the immediate causes which have involved 
us. The great question, and the only question for Tennessee to 
determine is, what is Tennessee to do'^ Far be :t from me, in 
this brief letter, to offer anything like dictation. I am your 
servant, your agent, sent here to do your will. But in times 
like these, occupying a position from which the whole ground 
may, perhaps, tlie better be surveyed ; as a sentinel upon the 
watch-tower, with an earnest eftbr't to be faithful, I vouchsafe 
to you the deliberate result of these observations. 

Before this will have been read by many of you, somefive 
or six of the sovereign States of this Union, closely identified 
with us in interest," in institutions, in kindred, in the most 
solemn form, in all probability will have absolved themselves 
from all allegiance and fidelity to this Federal Government. 
Concerning their constitutional right to do this thing it is idle 
to debate. 



"Whilst there may not be in the Constitntion any provision 
anthorizing them to do so, one thing is certain, there is notliing 
in the Constitution saying they shall not do it. 

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Con- 
stitution nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the 
States respectively, or to the people." (Art. 10, Amendment 
to the Constitution.) 

In the absence, then, of any delegated power in the Con- 
stitution from the States snrrendering these their sovereign 
rights, and no prohibition to the States, such rights and powers 
are accordingly reserved to the States respectively or to the 
people. This right, then, seems to me to be clear. But be 
it so or not, it makes but little difference in this case whether 
it be a constitutional or revolutionary right. One of the sov- 
ereign States of this Union has already seized, and others 
will soon seize, upon this right, and it will be then too late 
to discuss under what head it comes. It is at least the right 
of revolution ; and we have to deal with it as an existing fact, 
without stopping to speculate upon the political philosophy 
of that fact. Neither is it necessary to pronounce judgment 
upon the right or wrong of the action of these States as a 
matter of policy. Whilst Tennessee would doubtless not have 
been so precipitate in her action, each State, I take it, acting 
for herself as an independent sovereign, is the judge of her 
own wrongs, and of the mode and measure of redress. 

Sensitive as I am, and have ever been, to the wrongs and 
oppressions of my section, I must say that the action of these 
southern States, precipitate though it may by some be called, 
touches with me, instead of a hostile, a sympathetic chord. I 
think that chord should be thus touched in every southern 
breast. I cannot help it if I would — would not if I could. 
With these sentiments, even, did I believe in the right or the 
power of the Federal Government to bring back a so-called 
recusant State by the strong arm of Federal power, I cer- 
tainly would refrain, from maternal feeling if none other, 
from so now announcing. At least, I would be silent. For 
the promulgation of such sentiments at this most critical and 
exciting juncture, in political affairs, can but add fuel to the 
flame, and precipitate the country into that civil war which 
it should be the aim of all patriots and Christians to prevent. 
A dissolution of this Union cannot, civil war may be, averted. 
To that end patriots should direct their efforts. Coercion 
upon the part of the Federal Government, either upon the 
citizens of a seceding State in enforcing the Federal laws, or 
in any other conceivable manner, is not, in my judgment, 
one of the ways to avert so dire a calamity. Coercing the 



the people of a State is coercing a State, for tlie people form 
the State : 

" What constitutes a State? 

* « * » * 

Men, high-minded men, 

» * * * * 

Men who their duties know, 
But know their rights, and, knowing, dare maintain, 

Prevent the long--;iiineil blow, 
And crush the tyrant while they rend the chain — 

These constitute a State." 

This Confederation and Union of States was of voluntary 
formation. It cannot be held together by any other power 
than that which formed it. It is idle to talk about au Anglo- 
Saxon people, who are and of right ought to be free, being 
held together in a hostile Government as conquered prov- 
inces. If the sovereign people in any State, by virtue of their 
inalienable rights — rights recognized by the Declaration of 
Independence — in solemn form declare themselves free and 
inde])endent of all governments upon earth, save such as they 
choose themselves to institute, no power can enslave them. 
I do not think, then, that the doctrine of coercion can meet 
with a response from any portion of the people f)f Tennessee. 

Assuming it as a fact, then, that all the extreme southern 
States will very soon take such action as will place them out 
of the pale of' this Union, the question comes up, what posi- 
tion is Tennessee to take? Tliis is a most momentous ques- 
tion, to be decided alone by the people of Tennessee in their 
sovereign capacity. I see that our Governor has, in my opin- 
ion, very properly convened the Legislature on the 7th Jan- 
uary next. I presume the Legislature will appoint some early 
dav (I think it should be early) for a convention to be called 
to determine upon these most serious questions — more serious 
than any which have ever yet engaged the consideration of 
the people of Tennessee. I hope all the issues which can 
possibly arise under the existing and prospective state of facts 
will be presented to the people for their most solenm consid- 
eration. My own opinion is — and it is but the opinion of one 
Tennesseean who feels a deep and abiding interest in the 
prosperity and welfare of his own native State, with which 
all his fortunes are forever identified — my own opinion is that 
there will be but two questions for Tennessee to determine. 
And they are, whether, in the formation of a southern con- 
federacy, she will swing to the North or to the South, or aid 
in forming a middle republic. These alternatives being pre- 
sented, I am decidedly in favor of going with the South. _ I 
would spring intuitively to the side of my section. The unity 
of the South would tend to prevent civil war and bloodshed. 
It would go very far to Insure such a re-establishment of our 



Government npon terms of equality as Tvould be enduring. 
The reasons whv Tennessee, in case of dissolution and the 
formation of a so'utliern confederacy, should link her destinies 
with the South, to nif mind, are many and weighty. That 
rich and flourishing portion of the State that I have the honor 
to represent is especially identified with the South in her 
every material interest. Southern trade and southern com- 
merce have poured their rich treasures into the lap of the 
young metropolis of Tennessee. 

AVMiat position, let me ask, would Tennessee occupy liem- 
med in all around by members of a ditlerent government? 
Where do we look for our trade ? Is it to the States north or 
soutli of us? Are not our interests every way identified with 
the South? Our natural outlets are all there. The States 
north of us are the competitors of Tennessee in the produc- 
tions of coal, iron, and other minerals — competitors, too, in 
the raising of liorses, mules, cattle, grain. 

Tennessee, together with her sister border States as a part 
of a Southern republic, would to a very great extent monop- 
olize this class of trade. Such States as Virginia, Kentucky, 
Tennessee, Missouri, and others of kindred locality and in- 
terests, by uniting themselves into a separate confederacy, 
being somewhat hemogeneous, similar to some extent in cli- 
mate, soil, and productions, would each make the other its 
rival. Wliereas by all linking their destinies with the South, 
they woidd necessarily become the great manufacturers and 
producers for the Southern Republic. 

In a middle confederacy, too, we would have two or more 
hostile borders to protect and defend ; whereas with only a 
ISTorthern and a Southern confederacy, we would have but one 
The reasons, it seems to me, are all against a middle republic 
formed out of what is called the border States. 

Deeply devoted as I ever have been to the Union of tliese 
States, cherishing with patriotic pride the many remembran- 
ces of my country's glory, standing as she does the wonder ot 
the world — beholding, as I do, a people the most pros])erous 
and happy of any upon earth — a government the grandest and 
the best — mighty amidst the mightiest nationalities of the 
globe — looking at her as she is, I must say that it is with a 
saddened heart I am brought to contemplate the subjects I 
have been discussing. But, deprecate it as we may, these 
issues are upon us, and like men, they must be met. Tennes- 
seans, too, will have the proud consciousness of knowing that 
by no act of theirs have they been the cause of these dread 
consequences. 

It is needless to remind Tennesseans of their loyalty and 
devotion to the Constitution and Union of their fathers. They 
have made imperishable record of that devotion whenever 



tlieir coiintiy has called. To preserve both the Constitution 
and the Union as thej came from the hands of their great 
builders has been the higliest aim of Tennesseans. Let me 
tell you in all earnestness that this cannot now be done by- 
protestations of devotion to the Union. As I said in the be- 
ginning of this letter, the South has been guilty of no wrong. 
!She has demanded nothing inconsistent whh tJie compacts of 
the Constitution. ..The North denies us these. In a speech I 
had the honor to make upon the liuor of Congress at its last 
session, I arraigned the Republican party at the' bar of public 
iudgment for their unconstitutional acts. I then charged that 
they were tlie true disunion party of the country, because 
they had broken the compact, and, in the lauguage of Mr. 
Webster, " a bargain broken on one side was broken on all 
sides." 

So they broke the bargain, and they alone can mend it. 
The}' will never do it so long as we are divided in the South, 
so long as there are imposing demonstrations, resolutions, 
speeches pleading for the Union and palliating our wrongs. 
This is not the way to save or to re-establish this Union. It 
only emboldens our'enemies and weakens and exasperates our 
friends. Let us, regardless of all ])ast i)arty differences-, pre- 
sent one united and unbroked Southern voice and Southern 
action. I wish to act as if I had never uttered a party senti- 
ment or given a party vote in my life. Thus we should all 
act. Encroachments never have been, nor never will be, 
stopped by yielding to them. Had we been long ago a bold, 
determined, united South, the present evils might have been 
averted. 

Tennessee will, I trust, soon speak through her convention 
with a potential voice. AVhatever her action may be I will 
abide. My first and highest allegiance is to her. With her 
brave people I am willing to intrust these momentous ques- 
tions. Satisfied I am that Tennessee, in her action, will but 
re-enstamp upon the enduring pages of her own unsullied 
history the high renow^n of her illustrious past. 

WM. .T. AYERY. 

Washington, D. C, Dec. 27, 1S60. 



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